Governor Rick Perry adds big Pro-Life bills to Texas Special Session

The Texas regular legislative session ended less than a month ago. Unfortunately, all the big pro-life bills were killed by the leadership of Texas Speaker of the House Joe Straus. Joe Straus is not pro-life and has openly stated that abortion is not a serious issue and only a wedge issue. In fact, yesterday Joe Straus told the media that he had "no comment" when he learned about pro-life issues being added to the special session by Perry. Straus sure does not sound very excited about the bills that, if passed, would do things like prevent abortions after 20 weeks because of preborn pain and also force abortion facilities to have medical facility standards or shut down.

As soon as the regular session was over, there were calls from grassroots conservatives all the way up to LT Governor Dewhurst asking Perry to add important anti-abortion bills to the Texas Special Session that Perry was expected to call. Texas Right to Life even got dozens of Texas State Representatives to sign a letter urging Perry to add pro-life issues to the Special Session. Thankfully, we have a VERY pro-life Governor. Yesterday, Rick Perry added abortion legislation to the list of approved bills that can be passed out of the special legislative session.

According to Texas Alliance for Life, these special session pro-life bills include:

2. Require the 18,000 RU-486 abortions performed each year be done according to FDA safety standards,

3. Require physicians who perform abortions to be qualified to treat life-threatening complications after botched abortions, and

4. Protect unborn children who can feel pain from the horror of abortion.

According to the Beaumont Enterprise, Perry made it clear Tuesday he hasn't forgotten the kind of ideological topics that are close to the hearts of his conservative base, saying in statement:

"The horrors of the national late-term abortion industry are continuing to come to light, one atrocity at a time. Sadly, some of those same atrocities happen in our own state."

"In Texas, we value all life, and we've worked to cultivate a culture that supports the birth of every child," Perry said. "We have an obligation to protect unborn children, and to hold those who peddle these abortions to standards.

The Director of Texas Alliance for Life released this statement yesterday in response to the news of Governor Perry adding pro-life bills to the special session:

"We are grateful to Gov. Rick Perry for adding protection of mothers and unborn babies to the issues considered in the special session," said Joe Pojman, Ph.D., Executive Director of Texas Alliance for Life. "We believe that the recent allegations against Houston abortion physician Douglas Karpen, along with conviction of Kermit Gosnell, highlight the urgent need for pro-life legislation to be passed quickly. We cannot allow these atrocities to continue for two more years when we have the opportunity to address them right now."

Below are some of the recent articles I posted that are related to this Special Session announcement from Governor Perry: